A fresh poll conducted for Sen. Lamar Alexander's campaign found he continues to hold a comfortable lead with just more than a week to go in the Tennessee Republican primary.

Alexander took 53 percent in the poll, according to a memo the Alexander campaign provided at CQ Roll Call's request. State Rep. Joe Carr, Alexander's most prominent challenger, took 24 percent, followed by physician George Flinn with 5 percent. The four other candidates in the race took 1 percent or less. The poll was conducted by North Star Opinion Research, which surveyed 600 likely GOP primary voters July 27-29. Live interviewers conducted the surveys, and 30 percent of the interviews were with cell phone users.

The results are largely unchanged from an internal poll conducted last week , which found Alexander leading Carr, 53 percent to 21 percent. In the interim, conservative talk radio host Laura Ingraham hosted a rally for Carr in Nashville, and he received the endorsement of Sarah Palin.